The company was founded from Ferdinand Ghelfiin 1903, which then existed besides the company from L. & B. Ghelfiwhich was under control of Belle.
The following changes are documented:F. Ghelfi & Cie., 7 Rue de Charlot, Paris (1916/1922) F. Ghelfi & Cie., 47, rue de Saintonge, Paris (1933) – relocation F. Ghelfi Birolleau & Cie., 47, rue de Saintonge, Paris (1974)
change of company name and owner

Besides these changes there are predecessor companies which for have a close connection to F. Ghelfi & Cie. I created a overview of those companies which you can find on the first part of the story here:

2. Historical approach and Italian roots In concerns of my researches and to the predecessors companies its impossible to miss the connection to Italy. Doing more research of the Italian family names “Bardotti”, “Giovannacci” and “Ghelfi” i found a lot of evidence to the old towns Pontremoli, Mulazzo and Montereggio (Mulazzo) in the historical region Luningiana. All of the families are well bonded together during many centuries which makes it somewhat complicated to get their connection easily together.

During the winter time it was very cold and the people suffered from hunger, many inhabitants had to sell goods on the streets. Many left their home and families and went down the Emilia-Romagna or the Lombardy. They had to strife their life as street dealers and they sold icons/holy images also musical instruments and razor hones[1]

Luckily Jethro (Fikira)was interested to create a more detailed interpretation about the connection of the families and people being involved into that business during the centuries. That’s why i will leave out “too detailed” information and focus on general issues and pictures.

3. Old Pictures from the store F. Ghelfi & Cie. at 7, Rue de Charlot: During my research i found a old picture from the store of the brothers Ghelfi (ital.: fratelli, the brothers were Carlo, Constantino, Ferdinando, Lorenzo and Jean-Baptiste).

The picture was taken from the times where their business was at 7, Rue de Charlot, Paris.[2]Also today the distinctive building structure can be seen.

Here are some newer Google Street View pictures from the old location of F. Ghelfi & Cie. at 7, Rue de Charlot, Paris:

Here are some newer Google Street View pictures from the old store at 47, Rue de Saintonge, Paris:

4. The Trademarks from F.G.B.C. Actually there have been four “trademarks” or “main products”where logos have been created to promote the products sold on the market. They show up partly on their own, sometimes combined on the products. These were the following:

Letterhead “La Lune”

F.G.B.C. in a circle:

Moonface , “Special Stone only for Good Razors”, Straight Razor and F.G.B.C. in a circle

Special Stone only for Good Razors print AD / Special Stone only for Good Razors Werbeanzeige

5. The Quarries from F.G.B.C. This topic is more or less the most un-researched within the history of F.G.B.C.and its predecessors companies . All quarries which were under position of F.G.B.C. have been listed and documented on the old invoices and letterheads. Up to date it looks like that none of those quarries has been extensively researched and more or less only a bit or no information is available. Those were the quarries named on the letterheads:

La Nouvelle, La Vaûte, La Parisienne (Gare Merviller-Vacqueville)

Neufmaison, La Boulaye (Gare Pexonne)

Béménil-Bas, Bréménil-Haut, La Parisienne (Gare Badonviller)

Its possible that there is a connection between their Trademark“La Lune” and “Luneville”.In near range of Merviller (Quarry of the Birolleau Family) Chateau Luneville is situated. So probably the use of the moon symbol is grounded on some personal experiences and memories.

Other approaches were made in France, so it is told that down Merviller (Lorraine) desert like conditions were existent in the past. Because of these conditions fine sand deposits combined with iron oxide built up very fine stone layers.[3]

Also there is an entry about a quarry named “Carrière de grès Birolleau” down in Merviller which might be the quarry were the fine sandstone for Grinding wheels had its origin.[4]
6. Steige, possibly origin of the fine red razor hones ? Within the research i also asked Mr. Wilson if he would ask back some of the geological departments in France about the red fine razor hones sold as “LA LUNE”. Within this research we got a reply from the University of Nancy, department of geology. Actually Steige was mentioned as a region where these stones might have their origin. Further more research revealed that near Steige sharpening stones seem to have been quarried, but no more details were known or documented.

Another type of slate stone known in this region is a schist type named “Schiste Lie de Vin de Steige”. The stone itself just from its chemical composition shows good properties to be a sharpening stone. It contains 59,3% quartz (SiO2), 22% aluminum oxide (Al2O3) and 7,3% iron oxide (Fe2O3). So if we ever can find a connection to the fine razor hones ? We’ll see in future!

7. Products and services from F.G.B.C. F.G.B.C.’s business was not only the quarrying and selling of the stones. They also focused on technical services in terms of building up complete machines of grinding stones.

Here is an older price list from the competitor company as it was
running under L. Belle:

L. Belle Liste No. 26, 87 Rue Du Faubourg, Saint Antoine, Page 1

L. Belle Liste No. 26, 87 Rue Du Faubourg, Saint Antoine, Page 2

L. Belle Liste No. 26, 87 Rue Du Faubourg, Saint Antoine, Page 3

L. Belle Liste No. 26, 87 Rue Du Faubourg, Saint Antoine, Page 4

Besides these two core businesses they were importers of stones and abrasives from different countries all over the word. Probably they focused on different businesses to offer a wider range of products and services, or to offer combined solutions on certain special applications.

They also sold abrasives like silicium carbide, corundum, big grinding wheels made out of emery or sandstone (white, grey and red) and the fine razor hones which are known as “Pierre La Lune” and “Special Stone only for Good Razors”.

Besides these standard products they sold also razor strops and pastes to be used on the strops.

Pâte á rasoir “LA LUNE”

Pâte á rasoir “LA LUNE”

8. Razor Hones “Pierre aiguiser LA LUNE” The razor hones sold as “Pierre aiguiser LA LUNE” are very fine razor hones which work the best when oil or a water/gylcerine solution is used. There are different interpretations within the razor scene how these stones should be used best. I yield the best results using glycerine/water mixture. The most important for me besides any interpretation is the proposal beeing made from F.G.B.C. as a seller of the stones.

F.G.B.C. neverannounced the stones to be used with water, they were always announced to be used with oil. Additionally the results with water are in my point of view not comfortable enough.

9. Classification of the “LA LUNE” and “Special Stones” Many of those stones can be found with rectangular stamps. If the stamps are still visible depends on the condition of the ink. Sometimes they are only visible very faint, sometimes you only see the letters because the areas around the stamp dries faster then the are were the stamp was printed on. The stamp itself shows a rectangular frame where the quality of the stone is printed inside. The qualities were:

Normally those stones were stamped in the qualities with fine, very fine and extra fine.

In January 2016 the first time a stone was sold on Ebay (Art, 221991500339, in size 17×4,2x2cm, 400gr.) which showed a comparable stamp.

But this one wasn’t stamped as usual, it had a stamp with the wording “RAZOR HONE”(PIERRE A RASOIR). I actually believe this was one of the newer stones which were sold from F.G.B.C. on the market.

Some examples of those stamps:

10. La Lune and Special Stones from other suppliers? Actually we are not sure if F.G.B.C. was the only seller of the fine “La Lune” and “Special Stones”. We are today not sure if the stones labelled as “Pierre aux Croissants” are from a competitor or from a follow up company of F.G.B.C.. This has to be further more researched!

Also there are exiting stones with a totally different label, which were shown on Razorandstone.com from Modine. I asked Modine if i can show the pictures here, so here they are! This one was labelled “Pierre de L’est Blue”

Besides those stones, there are often stones appearing without any stamps or any label. I myself got one in very unusual size (18x9cm) which seems that they have never been offered in these sizes officially. So my first theory is that they might have been sold also regionally which is nothing unusual compared to other types of natural hones.

The second theory is, that it might be that also F.G.B.C. just bought these stones from another company or quarry owner and sold these under their trademark. That could explain that also others might have bough these stones from the quarry owner and sold these types of stones under their own trademark.

The third theory is just that to a certain time the stones from F.G.B.C. haven’t been labelled or stamped! Its hard to prove those theories either combined or each standing by its own, but i think these are realistic theories. We will find out some time in future!

11. A promise on quality! The warranty card, or the “Bulletin de Garantie” F.G.B.C. was concerned to give a promise on the quality of their products, surely with the intention to convince their customers and create a long binding to them. The “Bulletin de Garantie” was delivered with the fine “La Lune” and “Special Stones”.

Warranty Card (englisch translation) “The natural oil stone for razors “La Lune” cannot compared to any other stone. The fineness of the particles and his mineralogical purity enables efficiently and perfect honing without any damage to the steel.

The careful first choice from the best quarries, specialized workforce and long established methods make these stones uncontested to the Number Ones trademark of the world.

12. Combination Stones “Combinaison Stone” These are ones of the most interesting combinations stones being around. The stones were sold as “Combinaison Stone” under the article numbers AD12 (120x60mm) and AD20 (200x50mm). The stones are glued on a midsection of wood. Each side of the wooden box has a lid. Sometimes the lids were labelled with stickers or both wordings “La Lune”and “New Master Stone” were printed or punched inside of the lids.

Combinaison Stone AD12

Combinaison Stone AD20

13. Scythe Stones “Pierre a faux” made of Pierre Natural de Saurat
It seems that already in the earlier times there was a cooperation between F.G.B.C. and one of the older quarry owners who marketed the shale sandstones . The Quarry which is in the region of the Pyrenees down the Valley of Saurat. One of the more known Families running the business over three generations was the Cuminetti family. In 2006 the quarry was taken over form Mr. Alain Soucille who still runs the business to these days. The scythe stones appeared under the names of many different companies and under all kinds of different trade names and qualities.

14. Arkansas Stones As being a big importer of all kinds of sharpening stones also F.G.B.C. did import Arkansas Stones from the United states of America. Actually a lot of the companies dealing with sharpening stones and their supplies did this during the 19th century. They imported the stones and sold them on the local market under their own trademark. A very nice example appeared in 2015 and could be bought from a member of a German wet shaving board. Many thanks to Jörg (Jollo74) who did agreed that i can use this pictures here!

New Master Stone F.G.B.C. has, as many other suppliers and producers of abrasives, used the trends to produce and sell men made stones. These stones were made out of Silicon Carbide D48.

R.C. La Lune “Extra-Fine” Another “Special Stone” which was produced from F.G.B.C.. It reminds me a bit of the stones which have been produced from JGESand were named “Reform Brocken”. It is impossible to proof from which material/abrasives these stones were made. It is possible that for one of those sides dust from “LA LUNE” stones has been used.

16. The F.G.B.C. “Prix Courant” / Price List from 1974 In 2014 FERDI (A member of Coupe-Chou Club and SRP) finds an old price list from F.G.B.C. from the year 1974 and shares it thankfully with the community. That was a really important step to become an overview of the prices and the products F.G.B.C. sold on the market.

After talking back to FERDI he wanted to support the Razorlovestones Project. I really wanted to show that price list here in that company profile. Also here a big thank you to FERDI for the permission to use the price list here !

17. Unknown Products During the last years several different products appeared which were not mentioned in the old Prix Courant / Pricelist from FERDI. There were f.ex. a “Pierre a Rasoir Naturelle LA LUNE” and “Double Face Extra Extra”. And the stone which i mentioned earlier with the ink stamp “PIERRE RASOIR”. Then there were those Razor Hones and Belgium Coticules with the double half moon labelled “Pierre Aux Croissants”.

Probably those products were sold by competitors or from predecessor companies of F.G.B.C.. Either those could have been sold in a time frame before or after the price list from 1974.

18. F.G.B.C. on the bigger trade fairs? Looking back from today we are sure that the Ghelfis’ and their predecessors companies were also active on the bigger trade fairs. This is visible on some of the older Letterheads, besides this there are some old entries. F.G.B.C. received the following medal:

International Fair in Florence 1904 Big Price and Gold Medall

Manufrance letterhead from an invoice, 26.09.1951

19. F.G.B.C. and Manufrance A french catalog company called “Manufrance”, which is still existent today, sold the Stones from F.G.B.C. during a certain time frame. So sometimes we find stones from F.G.B.C. which shows a MF“Manufrance Saint-Étienne” lable which was glued on the stones. Actually till today it wasnt possible to find a reference to these stones in the old Manufrance catalogues.

20. Collection and how to identify french stonesThese are most of the stones from my collection which i got from France. Buying stones in France will also bring up very different types mostly out of Europe. I experienced to find the following types of stones in order of their appearance:

Coticules
Thuringian Stones
Washita / Arkansas Stones

Sometimes UK Slates in black and violet appear, also with a certain regularity Llyn Idwal Stones. So this makes it not too hard to compare the rare French Razor Hones with those types.

Sometimes it happens that a black/grey or grey/brownish stone appears. They show up a comparable glittering. In most cases these are a Pierre Naturelle de Saurat. These are also sold today with a lablel marked “Pierre à Menuiser”. These stones are less fine then the razor hones. I would rate them in between 4K-8K, some might be finer.

The main identifiers for the fine razor hones is in my point of view the type of metallic / bronze appearance of the stones. Talking about the violet/purple variant of the stones they will show up with a typical pattern and will have a bronze look. Talking about the blue/green metallic stones you will see that these show a metallic glittering in the light. The color ranges from a lighter grey-blue towards a blue-green, its also possible the greener areas appear in the stone. These show also the typical pockmarks which looks like little cracks (0,2-0,5mm) in the middle of these cracks you can see a darker spot.